The Time In-Between
by Ronnie K
Summary: This is intended to be a small collection of short stories of Tatsuya and Miyuki that cover the time between him saving her life and when they entered high school. Edit: Corrected a couple of mistakes.
1. Chapter 1

This will be a small collection of short stories of Tatsuya and Miyuki that cover the time between him saving her life and when they entered high school.

First Birthday

Miyuki had a very difficult problem to solve: what should she get onii-sama for his birthday? In the past presents from her would be procured by someone, usually a servant. The servant would be told what kind of gift to get, and it would be wrapped and presented to her brother, probably by the same servant.

Miyuki would have absolutely no hand in it. She likely would not even have remembered that he was having a birthday. It wasn't as if the family would throw a party for a guardian or anything, so the day was treated like any other, without much thought being given to it by anyone. It was probably considered a kindness that anyone remembered enough to send a servant out for the gift.

Onii-sama's birthday would never be like that again, Miyuki vowed. There would always be at least one person with him on that day to acknowledge and celebrate it. One person who would give him a gift from her heart to show how much she appreciated him. He would know that there was at least one person in the world that would view his birth as something other than a "failure" or an unfortunate occurrence.

It shamed her to think she had never thought about his birthday before. She'd never given him much thought at all, except as a nuisance. She had been self-centered and selfish and, in a word, spoiled.

She was still a child, and that gave her some excuse for her actions, but childhood was about learning and changing and growing. She could forgive herself for her previous actions, but only if she learned from them and moved forward. Some of that change would begin with this one small thing.

It was a beautiful day for shopping. The sun was out and it wasn't too warm or too cold. The parasol she carried would ward off the harmful rays of the sun from her delicate skin.

On a trip like this, her aunt would normally insist that Tatsuya accompany her as a safety precaution. He was her guardian, after all. But she couldn't have him along on this trip.

Using the excuse that she would like to try on some dresses and that she may need some female assistance in the dressing room, Miyuki requested that a maid go with her instead.

"Then Tatsuya can tag along also. He will wait for you outside the shops." That was her aunt's argument.

"No-no, that's not necessary. A maid will be just fine. Really." It wasn't much of an argument, but Miyuki hoped it would be enough.

Miyuki watched nervously as her aunt thought this over. Miyuki could see dawning realization in her eyes, and she knew that her aunt now understood the true reason for this request. Her frown was not encouraging, but the words she spoke next did not show any trace of disapproval.

"I see. Very well. Satoko will accompany you then." Like all staff in a Yotsuba household, Satoko had fairly extensive combat training. Not close to the level of training a guardian would have, but she would be able to hold her own quite well in a street brawl or a kidnapping attempt.

Neither aunt nor daughter understood why this request wasn't just made honestly and openly.

Maya wondered why she couldn't just say that she was going shopping to buy a present for her brother. She put it down to being shy. Truthfully, she was not happy with this change in their brother-sister relationship. She much preferred a Mistress-guardian relationship between them, but there was nothing to be done about it at the moment.

Miyuki herself had no idea why she had gone about it this way. Perhaps she thought she would be scolded for doing something so personal for someone seen as beneath her. She had never even considered being forthright with her aunt about this. Having gotten permission for the trip though, she did not think on this for very long.

Now she was in town, maid in tow, looking for an appropriate shop. But she still didn't know what she could get for him. She didn't have to consider anything he might need. All his needs were taken care of by the family. That was the case for any guardian.

At least she could rule out socks and underwear. The thought made her giggle, but then her face turned scarlet. The thought of buying unmentionables for her brother made her blush furiously, prompting Satoko to ask if there was anything wrong with her. She was well into the shopping district before she could get herself back under control.

Back to the matter at hand. All she had to consider is what onii-sama might want. And that was the problem. She barely knew him, really. She had no idea what he might want, or even what kinds of things he might like. The only thing she ever saw that he had an interest in was the pistol CADs that he was given by Captain Kazuma. She wasn't going to get him anything like that.

She wasn't going to buy him clothes either. She wanted something personal. Something that would remind him of her whenever he looked at it. Besides, she had no idea what size clothes to buy him. Jewelry, maybe?

She was about to give up and ask Satoko for advice when she saw it in a shop window. It was a 3D glass snowflake, about the size of her hand, that was mounted on a small stand. It wasn't a hologram, like many of these kinds of things were nowadays. Some sort of crystal, most likely. Blue, orange, and purple rays played on it's surface as Miyuki walked back and forth in front of the window to see it from different angles. It was absolutely beautiful. And it could sit on Tatsuya's desk while he studied his boring magic texts, but not be a distraction.

Miyuki's name meant deep snow and she was known throughout the family for her skill at manipulating temperature, especially cold. What better reminder of her than a brilliant snowflake? Onii-sama had to have it. It was perfect!

Looking at the rest of the shop, she could see that it was high-end. It seemed to stock knick-knacks from around the world, and the prices reflected that.

When told that this was to be a gift, the proprietor offered to wrap it for her, but Miyuki declined. She picked it out herself and she would wrap it herself, too. She wanted everything as personalized as possible for this occasion.

A few hours later...

Miyuki went to her brother's room and nervously requested that he come back with her to her own room for a little while. Without question, he followed her, wondering what could be on her mind. She was obviously still nervous as they stopped outside her door. With a deep breath, she composed herself.

"Please enter."

He opened the door and stopped at the threshold. The room was darkened, but he could still see the coffee table and the cake that was decorated with what looked in the dim light like chocolate icing, along with some blue and pink icing looping around the sides. Why would she bake a cake for herself? It was obviously home-made. Some of the colored icing was a bit off, and the overall shape was a little crooked. He also noticed the gift-wrapped box next to the cake.

Then he remembered that it was his own birthday. That only shocked him more that she not only would remember it, but would go through all this effort just for him. He was almost speechless.

"Is...is this for...me?"

He sounded so unsure of himself! She had never seen him when he wasn't in complete control of himself, always so resolute and unflappable. It amazed her to see a side of him she had never seen before. To realize that she had caused this made her so very happy! It was so wonderful that Miyuki wanted to hug him.

"Of course it is, silly. It's your birthday, isn't it? Happy Birthday, Onii-sama! Now sit down over here, please." She guided him to a seat on her small sofa in front of the cake as she took her position standing opposite of him.

She bent over and lit each of the thirteen candles on top of the cake. When she had lit them all, she cast her eyes downward as she informed him, "I will not embarrass you with my singing of Happy Birthday, so please go ahead and make a wish and blow out the candles."

He closed his eyes and hesitated for a moment, trying to come up with a wish. He blew all the candles out with one breath, and Miyuki clapped her hands in approval.

"Onii-sama, what did you wish for?"

He looked into her eyes and said, "This is a wonderful surprise, and so I wished that we could have many more celebrations like this." He ducked his head slightly in embarrassment.

Miyuki was so overjoyed at this that she felt as if she could float to the ceiling. She felt something warm inside her she never felt before at thought that she had made her beloved brother happy.

It more than made up for the frustrations earlier this afternoon as she tried for the very first time to bake a cake. It was most fortunate for her when she found out that baking had been a hobby of Satoko's and that she would show Miyuki how to bake one.

She also found out from Satoko that chocolate was Tatsuya's favorite. At first, Miyuki found herself upset that one of the servants knew that about her brother and she didn't. She banished that irrational thought immediately. Of course others knew more about him than she. She had never given any effort to know him before! From now on, however, she would learn all she could about him. Someday there would be nothing she wouldn't know. And there would be no secrets between them ever again.

But before all that, she had to learn how to bake a cake. It took a couple hours longer than Miyuki had anticipated because she refused to let Satoko do anything except instruct her on what to do. Miyuki would bake and decorate her brother's cake from start to finish. And that's exactly what she did.

The result of all that effort was sitting in front of him now, the smoke from the candles still wafting into the air.

"Would you please open your present now, Onii-sama?" She picked up the box, wrapped in green paper and red ribbon, and handed it to him.

She watched him nervously as he carefully untied the ribbon and undid the wrapping. Self-doubt crept in on Miyuki. Would he like it? It was just a stupid knick-knack. How could he possibly like it?

All of that doubt fell away as he looked upon his gift and...smiled. He smiled! Still smiling, he looked up at Miyuki and said, "Thank you, Miyuki. It is beautiful and it's the best gift I have ever received. I will keep it on my desk in my room and every time I look at it I will remember this time."

He was smiling at her. The first time he had ever given her his full smile. She felt as if her heart would burst yet again. She would remember this day forever.

Masking these wild emotions, Miyuki calmly went and turned on the lights and brought out a couple of small plates and forks. She cut a couple of slices from the cake and handed him the plate with the bigger piece on it.

This was the final test. Would he like the cake? He would never be so rude as to tell her that the cake tasted bad, but somehow she felt that she would know if he truly liked it or was just being polite. She found herself holding her breath as he took his first bite.

She watched as his eyes widened a moment as he swallowed. He turned to her to render his verdict. "This cake is delicious, Miyuki. Did you make it yourself?" And he was smiling again.

"Ye—yes. I made it myself. I am so glad you like it!"

As if to prove to her that he really did like the cake, he ate two more pieces as they talked and drank coffee until bedtime.

As he took his leave, he leaned over and lightly kissed her forehead. "Thank you for the best birthday I've ever had."

She had a hard time falling asleep that night, of course. She hugged her pillow tightly as she rolled restlessly from one side of the bed to the other. She felt that she had gotten so many gifts this evening she could be excused for thinking that perhaps it had been her own birthday today instead of his.

Before, when she had even bothered to think about him, she saw him as her guardian first and brother second. She could never look at him that way again. He would always be her onii-sama first.

As Miyuki finally began to nod off, she realized that she would always remember this as the first day of their new life. Not as strangers who happened to be related by blood, but as true brother and sister. Her smile lingered as she finally surrendered to sleep.


	2. School

Whenever Tatsuya was around, Miyuki was aware that he was treated differently from her. He was treated as staff; as a tool. Not even human. To her shame, even she had treated him so. Not long ago the thought of this would have only fleetingly registered in her mind. When it did come to her attention, she merely felt that it was the way things were and that was that. Recently, however, Miyuki had begun to resent that he was not treated as family, even though they were of the same blood.

Her aunt, as well as the house staff (with only one or two exceptions), all looked at her brother as merely her guardian and nothing more. To be given no more thought than some useful appliance or a robot to be ordered around. To be either ignored or treated with disdain.

It took all her self-control now not to snap at anyone who treated him that way. It was especially hurtful when it was their own relatives that acted like that. However, she knew that saying something about it would change nothing.

She could not change how they acted, but she could change how she acted, and she resolved that she would change. A small part of that change was occurring right now.

It felt strange walking to school with her brother. They attended the same middle school, but had traveled separately. She was chauffeured to school in a limousine, while he walked the half mile by himself. Whether he refused the ride or had never been offered, Miyuki did not know.

That would not do. Not any longer.

In the past Tatsuya had rarely gone to class anyway, due to his torturous training. He just didn't have the time. Now, however, his training, while still arduous, was not nearly as time consuming, and he could go to school most every day.

Now Miyuki had decided that if her onii-sama could walk, then so could she. The exercise would be good for her. And that was exactly the reason she gave her aunt.

Maya's response was that being driven to school was for her safety. Miyuki countered with the argument that walking to school with Tatsuya was far safer than being driven in any car. Even Maya had to concede the truth in that.

Miyuki offered that she would, of course, be driven to school on any days that her brother could not accompany her. This concession made it easier for her aunt to swallow her misgivings and grant her permission.

With his intelligence, he would have been ranked at or near the top of his class had he been able to attend regularly. As it was, his ranking was towards the middle of the pack, while Miyuki was near the top. Now that he could go more often, Miyuki was sure that he would soon take his rightful place as the top student.

Not being in school very often attracted attention, but not friends. When he did attend school, Tatsuya spent most of his time outside of class alone. That was never going to happen again either, as long as Miyuki was around.

Their walks to school were uneventful. Miyuki never worried about her safety when in his company, of course. She knew that her brother's senses could pick up any threat before it appeared, and he had proven many times that he was capable of dealing with any harm that could menace his little sister.

The school they attended was not a magic school. It was a simple middle school. More accurately, it was a middle school for very well-off children, whether they were labeled 'magicians' or not. In the school guidelines there were very few references to magic in the school rules.

The most important was that no magic was allowed on school grounds. Any use of magic while on school grounds would result in expulsion. No exceptions.

Another reference was that there was an assistant principal always on staff that had the power and ability to suppress any magic that was used. The current person holding that post was an older gentleman, and it was assumed that he was likely a retired combat magician.

Miyuki thought that the post must be very boring since she had never heard of anyone using magic on the grounds before. It was nice to know he was there, though, just in case. It seemed to be an effective deterrent.

Although a magician herself, Miyuki appreciated the ban on magic. There were less divisions amongst students with that rule in place. Surely, some children with magical talents congregated together, as did students who had no talent, but most of them intermingled. The school felt that it was important that their students have experience relating with their peers regardless of whether they had magical talents or not.

The staff and the students all knew who had the ability to use magic and who did not, but since the use of magic was banned it didn't really matter, and so the school could function more or less like any other middle school.

None of these things were on Miyuki's mind as she and her brother were leaving school on a beautiful Friday afternoon.

She was thinking about going clothes shopping tomorrow and having Tatsuya go with her. She didn't need the clothes. There were closets full of her clothes at home. But it was an excuse to spend some quality time off alone with her onii-sama away from the rest of the family.

The old Miyuki hadn't really cared much whether it was a weekend or a weekday. It was all the same in her mind. But now she found herself eagerly looking forward to those days off each week. Time she could spend with him.

She was still learning about, and trying to understand, her brother. The more time she spent with him, the more she learned. What pleased him. What displeased him. These, she felt, were the most important things to learn. If other people felt that this desire was some kind of bro-con thing, then so be it. The only opinion she cared about was onii-sama's.

If Tatsuya wondered why his sister had that big smile on her face as they walked, he didn't ask her about it.

When they were still a hundred feet from the school entrance they spotted him. Of course, there were other students around. Most were leaving, while some were loitering around chatting with their friends.

Akura Tadashi stood out only because of his intense gaze directed at the two of them. As they got closer, it was evident that the piercing gaze was directed at Tatsuya and not Miyuki. The hatred in that gaze was easily felt by people who were always aware of their surroundings and as attuned to danger as the Shiba siblings were.

He was dressed like all the other boys at school. Black pants, which were just a little too short because of his larger-than-average height. Tie with white shirt, which was just a little too small because of his larger-than-average chest.

He was a big boy. He was also known as a bully, though he exclusively targeted those children known as magicians. No one seemed to know the reason for this. He was without friends, and that seemed to be okay with him as far as anyone else could tell. Always sullen, he came to school by himself, ate lunch by himself, and interacted with no one. Even the teachers just left him alone.

Every so often he would pick a fight with someone after school. He would wait outside the gates for his target, usually someone who walked to school instead of having a driver. The strange thing was that he never fought the same person twice. Normally, bullies picked on the same weak children continually. After a fight, which Tadashi always won, he would never even speak to his victim afterwards.

Tatsuya hadn't been going to school very often until recently, but even he had heard about this boy. He never gave it a second thought because it didn't concern him. If it did become his problem, he would deal with it. Quickly, efficiently, and ruthlessly.

It looked as if now it had become his problem. What he hadn't taken into account was that Miyuki was with him. For some reason, he did not want to thrash this idiot child in front of her. Well, there may be no help for it now.

When they were within a few feet of Tadashi, the siblings stopped as one as each side stared at the other.

"I am not interested in fighting with you. Leave us in peace." Tatsuya said this softly and quietly, hoping in vain that this encounter didn't attract too much attention. Other students had already begun to gather.

"I don't care what you want! You will fight me, Shiba." In contrast to Tatsuya's soft tone, Tadashi was loud and harsh. He, it seemed, wanted an audience.

"Why? I have not offended you. Why do you wish to fight?"

"You magicians offend me just by being here. You people lord it over us, but you aren't any better than the rest of us."

A few things then clicked into place in Tatsuya's mind. Debating his statements would be pointless, Tatsuya knew. So, instead of trying to argue with him further, he just took off his coat, which he handed to Miyuki. Then he stepped forward to meet his challenger.

Miyuki was worried as they had approached Tadashi. She, like everyone else, already knew of him and what he was like. He never bothered girls, so she hadn't thought too much about it. But now she was afraid. Not for her brother being hurt, of course. Onii-sama could defeat highly trained adult fighters, and had done so on multiple occasions.

What she was worried about was her brother getting in trouble with the school for hurting the other boy. Technically, the fight was outside the front entrance of the school and not within the school grounds, so there shouldn't be a problem, but Miyuki was worried anyway.

When her brother handed her his coat, she noticed something in his eyes. It wasn't the lust for battle that she had seen before. It was something more like "Aha!", as if he'd just managed to understand something. She was still puzzled by this as she watched him advance on the other boy.

Tadashi suddenly charged Tatsuya with a bullrush, hoping that the sudden charge and loud yelling would stun his opponent for a moment before he was overwhelmed. This normally worked on his smaller opponents, but Tatsuya didn't even blink. Was this guy really that calm in a fight, or was he just very slow to react?

That question was answered quickly, as Tatsuya sidestepped the rush. At the same time his arms shot out and wrapped around the larger boy's neck. As he did this, he shifted his balance slightly backwards and spun the other boy around. To the onlookers it looked like what they pictured a bullfight to be like, with the matador spinning aside from the mad bull's charge, except that matadors never got a bull in a headlock.

The big boy thrashed wildly to get out of Tatsuya's grasp, but Tatsuya easily held onto him. It looked like he was rocking the larger child to sleep. Seemingly out of energy, Tadashi stopped his movements and stood there, still bent at the waist with Tatsuya leaning over him.

To the other watchers it looked as if both of them had just stopped to get their breath, but Miyuki could see that Tatsuya was whispering something. Taking a couple of steps forward, she could barely make out what he was saying.

"...and you are right that having magic does not make anyone better than anyone else. You are no less of a person just because you don't have magic."

"What do you know...!" Miyuki couldn't understand the rest of the sentence because onii-sama's hold tightened on Tadashi's neck.

"What I do know is that you are proving nothing by this senseless fighting. I also know that beating up others will not give you the self-respect you seem to want so badly."

Tatsuya jerked the boy's head up so he could see the crowd that had gathered around them to watch.

"Look! What do you see when you look in their eyes? Do you see respect?"

Still unable to move his head, Tadashi could still get a good look at those around them. He did not see respect in their eyes. They looked at him in fear. Many of them were clearly disgusted. Then he saw Kimiko standing there in front of him. A girl he had secretly liked, and had sometimes thought about talking with if he could get up the courage. Her hair was so long and beautiful, and her eyes were always smiling. But she was looking at him now as if he was a monster. She was clearly terrified of him.

His energy suddenly gone, he went limp in Tatsuya's grip. That is when Tatsuya suddenly let go and began to walk away, his sister running to him and giving him his coat. As they walked, the crowd parted enough to let them through.

Tadashi straightened up and gently stroked his sore neck. He shook his head and began to stride towards the retreating pair. He wasn't even sure what he was going to do once he caught up with them.

As he walked purposefully towards them, the crowd did not part for him. It scattered. All the fear and loathing still in their eyes, they were so afraid of him that they ran away. This realization stopped him dead in his tracks, and he hung his head. Have I really become some kind of monster? This wasn't the way things were supposed to turn out.

He turned slowly away and began his walk home.

Miyuki had caught up with her brother and handed him his coat. He shrugged it on as they walked towards home. Tatsuya noticed a little self-satisfied smile on her face, but he had no idea what had caused it. He sighed silently to himself. _I really don't understand girls._

* * *

><p>Miyuki noted that the following couple of weeks were quite uneventful at school. The incident after school that day had seemingly been forgotten. There had been no other fights since then, and she had seen very little of Tadashi. She didn't used to notice him very much anyway.<p>

She noticed him today because he wasn't sitting alone as he usually was. He was standing in front of a table filled with seated students. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but he looked quite embarrassed and uncomfortable, and all the seated students were staring at him with unbelieving eyes. She didn't have to hear his speech to know that he was apologizing, probably for all his previous behavior.

It was all likely due to his encounter with onii-sama, and what onii-sama made him realize. She was so proud of her brother at that moment that she felt that she would burst.

Miyuki grinned as Tadashi smiled shyly and turned even more red when a girl with very long hair stood and gestured for him to sit next to her. Some of the students stifled a laugh at his obvious embarrassment as he took the seat.

She and Tatsuya were going through the cafeteria line to get food since they hadn't packed a lunch that day. They had both been running uncharacteristically late that day, and didn't have the time.

She then noticed Tadashi at the counter getting some extra napkins. Without looking at them, he said, "The pie is especially good today."

Tatsuya did not look at him or say anything to him, but addressed the cafeteria person currently serving him. "And I'll have an extra helping of pie, if you please." Tadashi took his napkins back to his table, and Miyuki and Tatsuya took their trays to their normal table far in the back.

There was some subtle communication going on in that little exchange, Miyuki was sure. She just didn't know what it was. She sighed aloud, causing her brother to look at her strangely. _I really don't understand boys._


End file.
